Vehicles are known with throttle controls that are mechanical and electrical. An example of an electrical throttle control is in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,714, which describes a steering control of a personal transporter, where the steering device uses a potentiometer coupled to the handlebar for generating a steering command upon rotation. U.S. Pat. No. 6,724,165 discloses a vehicle that uses a potentiometer as means of producing control command. In particular, the throttle is coupled to a potentiometer, where the rotation of the throttle from neutral position in one direction demands vehicle acceleration, while the rotation of throttle in second direction demands regenerative breaking.
Depending on the angular span of the actuating device, such as a throttle, a mechanical amplification is often used to map the mechanical domain of the actuation device to the electrical domain of the potentiometer. Due to the nature of the potentiometer, contact erosion is also possible. Throttle controls that rely on contact between an manipulable portion and a potentiometer or other throttle position-sensing device can have poor calibration retention due to sensitivity to environmental conditions, and can wear mechanical connections.
Thus, there remains a need to have a vehicle control where the actuating device is in contactless association with a sensing device, which can enable simple, lasting, and accurate means of vehicle control.